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Monday, March 21, 2011

Do you think our picks from the Arizona quilt show are a little bit.... eclectic? You'd be right. We don't always gravitate to the top award-winners, and we tend towards the truly unusual. Today's quirky mix includes some wonderful art quilts, and a real, live Sunbonnet Sue !

No Rain Today, 60 x 48, by Betty Hahn

This stunning landscape quilt was a standout at the show, in our humble opinion. Luscious, shibori-textured fabrics, which were hand-dyed by Betty Hahn and Elizabeth Barton, were used to depict the view along a desert road, from distant (top panel) to close (bottom panel). 'No Rain Today' received honorable mention in the Theme category (Along the Desert Highway).

Island Sunrise, 64 x 64, by Betty Santa

A classic New York Beauty, with a really lovely cool-and-warm scheme: just look at the border squares to see how well the fabrics complement each other. This is a Judy Niemeyer paper-pieced pattern. It was quilted it on a domestic machine; click to see the quilting detail in the border squares.

Sunny Bonnets, by Felicia Brenoe

A real Sunbonnet Sue! As famous as 'Sue' is, we rarely see these quilts (except in museum collections !) Felicia Brenoe says that she wanted to create a little girl’s quilt using the colors of 1930’s reproduction fabrics, including the sunny yellow sashing and border. In a clever touch, the inner white border is decorated with appliqued yo-yo's. Honorable mention, first-time entrant. (You can download templates for a slightly different Sunbonnet Sue, and Overall Bill, by Marti Mitchell).

Hummingbird, 16 x 20, by Barbara Nicholson

About 15 species either breed in Arizona or migrate through in the spring and fall. Hummingbirds are the smallest birds in the world, but this hovering hummingbird is nearly 18 inches across ! Barbara Nicholson made the quilt in an "awesome" class given by David Taylor last summer at Quilt Camp in the Pines. The pattern can be seen at David Taylor Quilts. Hand appliqued, machine quilted.

Log Jam on Turtle Creek, 37 x 37, by Karen Fisher

‘Log Jams’ is a twist on a log cabin. Karen Fisher paper-pieced the lop-sided turtle and turquoise squares, then continued with lots of red fabrics to frame them. If you look closely you can see that the turquoise log cabins were first pieced on the straight, and then sliced off at angles to make the wonky squares. The quilt, which won 2nd place in the Masters Division, was heavily embellished with beading, buttons and turtle charms (below).